Device for orienting pears



Dec. 22, 1964 M. w. L ovELAND DEVICE FOR ORIENTING FEARS 4 Sheets-Sheet l Filed Feb. 27, 1963 A TTORNEYS Dec 22, 1964 M. w. LOVELAND 3,162,293

DEVICE EOE ORIENTING FEARS Filed Feb. 27, 1963 4 Sheets-Sheet 2 ill fil l mail;

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INV EN TOR. MALCOLM W LOVE' LAND 32PM/@JM ATTORNEYS Dec. 22, 1964 M. w, LOVELAND 3,162,293

DEVICE FOR ORIENTING PEARS Filed Feb. 27, 1965 4 Sheets-Sheet 5 IN V EN TOR. /V/A LCO LM W L ove-Awa A T TURA/EVS Dea 22 1964 M. w. LovELAND- 3,162,293

DEVICE FOR ORIENTING FEARS Filed Feb. 27, 1963 4 Sheets-Sheet 4 INVENTOR. MALCOLM W LOVE'LAND AT TORNEYS United States Patent O 3,162,293 BEVECE FR ORHENTENG BEARS Malcolm W. Loveland, riuda, Calif., assigner to Atlas Pacific Engineering Company, a corporation er California Filed Feh. 27, w63, Ser. No. ZlAee 4 Claims. itil. 19S-33) This is a continuation-impart of application Serial No. 81,024, tiled January 6, 1961.

This invention relates in general to a machine for orienting fruit such as pears and more particularly to a machine capable of orienting and feeding objects, such as a pear, having a relatively bulbous end and a smaller more cylindrical stem end.

Pear processing machines are well-known in which pears are placed by hand into a feed cup and thereafter the cup is moved to impale the pear on a spindle. While on the spindle, the pear is peeled and a core cut in the pear to remove the vseed cell. Because hand feeding is relatively slow and laborious, the operation can only be carried on at a relatively reduced rate and at considerable expense.

Generally, 4this invention comprises an orienting device into which a pear can be fed in any position and from which it emerges in a predetermined position of alignment with respect to its major axis. Ii a pear is caused to slide down an inclined elongated U-shaped chute provided by a flexible sheet, the pear can be turned readily into a position in which the stem-end leads the pear down the chute. terial, it instantly accommodates itself to the size of the fruit, turning the fruit so that the chute side Walls engage the maximum dimension of the fruit at its butt end. The fruit is thus turned into a position in which the stem-end is leading.

To facilitate passage of the fruit through the chute it is desirable to move the inclined chute relatively rapidly back and forth along its longitudinal axis so that relative movement is imparted to the fruit traversing the' chute. This movement also ensures that any fruit inthe chute having its stem-end trailing is quickly turned to the desired position. Means are provided for constricting the side walls of the chute momentarily, preferably at a point slightly below the mid-point of the butt of the fruit. This momentary constriction serves not only to time the delivery of the fruit from the chute to the transfer cup but slows the progress of the pears toy prevent excessive tumbling or rolling of substantially spherical fruit. t yalso causes fruit with an unusually long stem-end to rotate immediately into the desired position upon contact. T his constricting of the side walls of the chute is an important element of the present invention for without it some ofthe fruit will fail of orientation, the fruit tumbling freely through the chute and emerging erratically with the stem-end trailing rather than leading. Since the processing machines are designed and builtto operate with fruit fed in only one position, any fruit ed to the processing machine with its stem-end pointing in the wrongdirecton will he wasted in the processing machine.

The material of which the chute is fabricated is relatively important in that it should be such that a'suit-able kcoeiiicient yoi friction exists between it and the Varticle fed. A cloth-like texture gives good results.

should should have suiicient rigidity so that the shaker action iseifective in moving the fruit down the chute.

, If the chute is too Flexible it will cling to the fruit While the side walls will hex and absorb the shaker action. I

.f havey used various materials to provide the chute such as a siliconecoated glass, vinyl coated glass cloth and a lightf weight canvas with neoprene or a vinyl resin.

Because the chute is made of a flexible ma- The chute The chute can be provided of a single sheet of material or of several sheets arranged in an interlocking relationship with an upper sheet fitting in the next lower sheet. A chute provided of a single sheet can orient about fteen pears a minute since a certain minimum length of chute is required to accomplish orientation and since but one pear can be present in the chute at a time.

When a relatively large pear is immediately followed or immediately preceded by a relatively small pear, the small pear may pass entirely through without being oriented, due to the fact that the flexible, laterally expansible chute is forced to a width suitable for the larger pear While the smaller pear essentially fails to Contact the side walls of the chute and hence fails to be overturned if it enters the chute with its but-t end leading. By making the chute of several short lengths in a telescoping relationship, each pear is acted upon by the section on which it is supported. This enables pears of different sizes to be oriented independently and simultaneously for a large pear for example will not alfect orientation of a small pear as in a single sheet chute. Thus, when a chute made up of several sections is employed it is not necessary to grade the fruit as to size as with a single section chute. Also, since two or more pears can be undergoing orientation at the same time in a multiple section chute, the capacity of the chute is increased correspondingly. Another advantage in the use of the several section chute is that the small step down going from one chute to the next helps to start a longer neck pear, passing through bulb end first, to start to turn over as though the chute were made steeper in slope momentarily. There is a limit to the chute slope where the fruit tends to tumble through or just slide through. This is a function of coeilcient of friction and position of the center of gravity of the pear.

lf the pears are graded so that they are about the same size, one can use a single sheet chute, providing several sets of cooperating fingers or gates along the length of the chute.

In a preferred embodiment of this invention, the single elongated chute of a relatively flexible material is replaced with a plurality of interlocking chutes, each of a relatively short length, Cooperating pairs of lingers or gates adjacent the ends of the interlocking chutes assure that no more than single pear enters a given segment of the device at any one time. This isl important since the maximum width of the chute of llexible material must be no greater than the maximum width of the fruit therein if proper friction between the surface of the fruit and the chute interior is to be maintained and proper orientation assured.

That is, irrespective or" the chute length or numberof segments employed, proper operation is dependent upon the fact that the opposed side walls fall into substantially parallel planes spaced apart a distance when measured normal to the walls, which is substantially less than the maximum diameter of the butt end of a pear. And when the chute is inclined to the vertical and a pear placed at the upper end thereof, the side walls engage the pear at its butt en and restrain it somewhat so that passage of the pear down the chute is impeded and an overturning moment impar-ted. The pears emerging from the bottom of the chute are thus all oriented with their stem ends leading the butt ends.

ln general Athe broad object of t-he present invention is to provide an improved fruit orien-ting device, particularly one adapted for orienting pears at high speed.

A further object of the present invention is to provide a novel and an improved pear orienting and feeding apparatus.

it is a further object of this invention tem which is of relatively short length to provide a sysbut which is casupports cam 3 pable of orienting a plurality of pears of dilerentfsize simultaneously.

Still a other object of lthis nvention-is to, proyidea sys-y tem whi is capable oijprienting both arelatively large dianietere'd i* thonghthetwo `r r1 ay pa s s throngh the oricnting device in very close proximity to one another. s

Yet nbthqrpbiect ,Qff .this invention, is tempi/idea device for orientmg'pears 'which assures that ,the fruit being orientedis fedwin `a proper-timed sequenceto such re.- ceptclesasfare utilized to convey the fruit to a subsequent statiorfil In'the drawings:l z

structure o i this mveritiori; also showing a portion of a typiealdevice forieeding fruit to the lc arientorand 'aporY-l.,

tiongof avtypical oevice oriented.,

Yforreceiving fruit which has been it may/,consist of a plurality of similar lines positioned side-by-sigie.

Frottee. taken fonptheilines 3 -3 of FIGURE 2.

FIGUR M lis an enlarged partial Asectional View through the line y4-- 4 of FIGURE 5 lis enlarged fragmentary view ofthe gate mechanism used to supply fruit at the proper pace to the orient/or. Y

Referring (to. thefdrawings lvvl'ijereinI like characters referto like parts throughout, there ,isshown an orientor generally..lahaymgtfh@ lett end there@ (FIGURE 1 a metal. hep'rer 12 Supported rests. @the frame 16;-,

the'fr'ain'i@ for adjusting the chute to 'anroptirnumshape 'l i 4 Y and 2,v Va rectangular overhead` support frame Ais provided consistingof a pair of isnanb enlarged fragmentary sectional viewV on the .uprightleg 14 which jWater vspray means 1 8 may be srrequired to prevent fruit juices becoming sticky thus chang chute7 receiving means 20 bers-SWand 31- are spaced 'rsupportingrstripsxlrS (FIG- Brackets-152 stand uprightth'erefrom mounted hiohare mountedfon bracktogether at each 4end thereof.

32 and'34 4forming"aportionof `the'frarne are hiddenin FIGURBl by theside channel 30. A pluralityrof short horizdnt'alj'brlackets 36 are welded to channel 3d which,

SUPII bearing?. t 42 is also-welded atrright angles'vto channel 30 portsy bearing and supbearj'ng 62 while bearingr64 is supported onvframe membert). 'Shaft 66 is journaled in bearings 62` and 64 and `f supportsfbevel'gear y68 whichmeshes with bevel gear'70 mounted VonV .the end of shaft40. Chain 72 is driven by 74 uponwhich rides-follower 76 securedto' j a primernover. notshown., The transverse shaft 66 also 38 for longitudinal shaft 40. Bracket 44.for the shaftfttir bearing cams 48. VAY bracketed welded to bracket 42 provides support Yfor y Channels'SZ-and 3 4 tie' channels 30 and V31 IThe horizontal channelsy which Amay or may not have had its skin terial such as polyvinylchloride and'of such a weight that they may ex readily and normally tend to form a deep but narrow passage for the pears being oriented such that as the pears pass theretlnough, the side Walls of the chutes will contactthe-pearsandeXertca'dragon thef-sides of the. pears so. as to permit the smallerendof thev pear to v rotate clockwise; as seen inthe-sequencerOi-FIGURE'l.

In a preferred embodiment of this invention, avmaterial is selected for-thetlexible `fabric or lplastic'chute which has a high coefficient -offricltionwith the surface of a pear removed. `Instead` of using 'several -`telescoping'chutes, f can be used, as has been indicated.- f i Uf Each of thef chutes 11041-16 is' supported' bythe' combination of inver-ted channel 11'8 il(seel` FIGURE S-and are suitably -fsecuredlover -the .upper K either-iside' of the channel'l-ll. Channels 122 support ,channelsllS- and are suspencledlin..1

metal strips 1Z0 which edges or -t-hefwallsf to` turn froml .the vchannels 124 b`y=means of idler 'links1126 a single chute andthe'lowermostwarms of the'vbellcr'ankswlw; thusto" forrna' parallelo-gram. crank -is pivoted at '132 Ir'i" FIGURESi l .and'f4g'each1 ibell:

andv 134 ab/outupinstinfbearing f blocks 133 and 13S secured respectvely-tomovable chan nels 1-22 and thexedfc'hannels124.' The; uppermost end* of each-bell -c-rank1-130'is' secured by wristv'pin'; 136tto conf Vnecting rods 138 which are eccentrically mounted at '140 aboutshaft-142 journaled' 'inlbearings 143,.which are ysnpportedlon-a plate-145\(FIGU RESVil and 2).. is driven byibelt 146 ytrained mOVex-..14,S z/.fl :hw: .VVJ i, a,

'Horizontally mounted between eachiof the. frame mer`nrPulley 144 f about the pulled of prime and support for: Aslidingmotion transverse rodsl154. 1 The 1 plate s}158,--turn supported by channels 30.' sion-springs y rods-'are also slidably mounted .in-blocks =156Lsecured to Compres--V cooperatingl with4 collars 162txedlyl.

Vsecuredtothefrods-"154 normllyt'end to urge the frods" 154 to the left, as seen in Vrollers 164- arex1held'in ti-ghtengagementlwith cams 48.

FIGURE 3, so that the-cam respect to-the ttings '166 mounted lon thends ofntheJ` rods 1 SKfsLvPairsof` collars 170 and't1'72together with "l compression Asprings 174 and bearing plates 176pi'ovidef.l

means -for'ti'ghtly engagingf'the .pins l178 -fo thev upper arms offthebell cranks which are pivotal-lyirnounted f, to thecross-barsglSO-are thef'arms-J184fat pivotpoints lever'- 78 which has pin S0 as its fulcrum sup-portedfV "by upstanding'bracket 82 mounted uponfchannel'. Se l' cured atlthe'other end o lever arm 7 8 is'adjusta'ble con-A l necting rod A84 which isjoinedat its other Vend to crank. Y arm 86. Bearings SS'and FIGURE 2. Individual gates;

permita pear to enter the orientor.y f Y G5l 92ksupport-shaft 90, as Vseen in 190 are mounted at-'the mouth `orrbloclsV 102 (FIGURE Q5) `which arey lxed to e shaft 9.0. YAs the, Afolle v ver enters 'the depression Vin the ca m 74; -crankarrn SSM/ill canserthe blocks 102 andV gates 100 tolrfotate counter-clockwise.as seen in FIGURE 5,-to

end of the Smallest peariwhichcould -be-orientedj As the pear moves downrtherchutea'itspreads'thefside walls apart until it comes into .engagementl with the lingers 194 Referringlback to FIGUREJJ there isseen a plurality of partially'telescoping troughs or chutes 110,V 112 114 Y and 116 ywhich'a're preferably of a fabric or plastic ma- 190- which fits between the fingers-191 -at ythelowc-.errnost 7186, forming a-part1hof artoggle;mechanism".y @One end 'of each"arm184 is provided with'a rotatably-mounted block`I endjofthebell crank 180.1 It lis seen, therefore', that as d thebellcrankrli) pivots in a connterclockwise direction,

showninvFlGURELS tothe lowerrnost 'arm of, eachl bell crank 180' and arm 184 .1s"thepair of lingers' 194 and Aswill be observed -frorri-viewing-the front end of the chute structure yshownV in l-IGUREl 3, the'exiblesheet e materialv providing ythe j'chute 'depends from the channel chute, the' .congurationof fthe f'chut'e` 'is i essentially Vthat the lingers will be liftedas well as bar. 184.V "Secured as 196which are' positioned' `onth'eexteriorofthe fabric or plastic of thechutes 110,112, 114`a'nd 116.fY e

` 118 and theplates 1720 and whena pearis notwithinthe'A shown in Vthe ldot-dash lineslin vFIGURE 3. Inth is'p osi tion,- the sidewalls providing the chute 'are out of engage? ment vwiththe arcuate portionof eachV ofthe lingers 194 and 196-and Vare,relativelycloserv together, the spa'cebetween the; sidewalls measured.fnorm'al tothem being substantiallygless than lthe diameter of vthe sphericalbutt and"196` operating in pairs.` Since .ftheseare lnormally spaced apartjafdistance less than Vthe'diameter of the butt end or" the pear, passage of the pear is momentarily interrupted. If the pear has been sliding down the chute with its stem end trailing, its momentum may roll the pear so that it comes to rest in a stem-up position, the second position shown in FIGURE 1. It is easy then to turn it to a stem end leading position as the jaws open since when a pear assumes the orientation of the second pear from the left in FIGURE 2, the stem end is over-balanced and rests on the lingers, ready to turn downward upon release. If the pear has been sliding stem end irst, engagement with the iingers merely results in the stern end sliding between them. In either case, the stem end leads as the fruit is discharged from the chute.

In operation, the pears are fed one at a time down chutes 12 where they encounter gate 100 as shown in FIGURE 5. Rotation of the cam 74 in a clockwise direction permits the follower 76 to drop into the depression so as to permit the lever arm '78 to cause the gate 100 to pivot in a counterclockwise direction, thus admitting the pear to the lirst U-shaped chute segment 110. The fingers 194 and 196 are in the position represented by the dot-dash lines of FIGURE 3 when a pear reaches the lirst position shown in the dotted lines in FIGURE 1. rI`hey normally are in a closed position so that the pear is stopped. Meanwhile, through the action of prime mover 148 (FIGURES 1 and 2), power is delivered to shaft 142 and rapid oscillating motion is transmitted through connecting rod. 138 so as to cause the bell crank 130 to oscillate the channel 122 and hence the entire assembly of chute members 11G-116. The oscillating motion tends to encourage forward movement of the pear as well as to cause it to tumble somewhat so as to result in the sequence more or less as shown in FIGURE l wherein the smaller end of the pear, which is not frictionally engaged with the fabric or plastic material, rotates clockwise over the butt end of the pear so as to assume the position shown at the right of FIGURE 1. The action of the fingers 194 and 196 is so timed by means of the cams 48 that a pear is stopped immediately prior to entering each section 112, 114 or 116. This is to assure that should a pear already he in the section next to be entered, such pear will have an opportunity to reach one of the sets of lingers 194 and 196 so that each chute will contain only a single pear at one time. This is important since in practice large and small pears Will be fed together. A relatively large pear ordinarily will bulge the plastic material to such a degree that should two pears be in a single chute together, the smaller y pear will not engage the walls of the chute and hence may not be oriented properly. The provision of means for assuring that only a single pear is in a single segment of the apparatus at any one time is of importance if it is desired, as shown, to provide a system wherein a plurality of pears may be undergoing orientation at one time while traveling through a relatively short path.

Itis seen that each pair of fingers 194 and 196 performs a dual function. The ngers constrict the chute side walls so that these engage the pear, and as a result the pear is permitted to tumble and is properly oriented. Further, by providing periodically a closed entrance to each of the segments constituting the entire chute assembly, the fingers assure that no more than a single pear will be found in each segment at any one time. Pears which are round or nearly so will enter a chute at such a velocity that they will continue to tumble end over end unless stopped immediately prior to entrance thereto. Stopping the pear and then releasing it while in contact with the chute brings the orienting forces into play. The ngers at the extreme downward end of the chute also serve to release a pear at a time which will ensure having a cup (not shown) in place to receive the pear.

When a single chute member is employed, one can employ a single set of fingers 194 and 196.

. Obviously, many modifications and variations may be made without departing from the spirit and scope ofthis invention, and therefore only such limitations should be imposed as are indicated in the appended claims.

I claim:

l. A device -for orienting a pear comprising:

(a) a flexible elongated sheet;

(b) means supporting said sheet with one end elevated with respect to the other, said sheet being mounted on said support means to provide a U- shaped chute having its opposite side walls depending, in the absence of a pear, in a substantially parallel spaced relationship in which the side lwalls are spaced apart a distance, measured at norm-al to said side walls, which is substantially less than the maximum diameter of the butt end of the pear whereby when a pear is in the chute the side walls engage the maximum dimension of said pear at its .butt end;

(c) an opening at either end of said chute for receipt and discharge of a pear;

(d) means for feeding pears into the elevated end of said chute;

(e) a first and a second finger, each finger depending on a side of the chute with each pair of fingers in -a parallel spaced relationship normally less than the diameter of the butt of the pear sliding through the chute whereby the lingers restrain momentarily passage to the pear down said chute and impart an over-turning movement to a pear sliding down the chute butt-end first; and

(f) means for separating 4the lingers to permit the pear to continue its passage down the chute.

2. A device for orienting a pear comprising:

(a) a flexible elongated sheet;

(b) means supporting said sheet with one end elevated with respect to 'the other, said sheet being mounted on said support means to provide a U- shaped chute having its opposite side walls depending, in the absence of a pear, in -a substantially parallel spaced relationship in which the side walls are spaced apart a distance, measured at normal to said side walls, which is substantially less than the maximum diameter of the butt end of the pear whereyby when a pear is in the chute the side walls engage the maximum dimension of said pear at its fbutt end;

(c) an opening at either end of said chute for receipt and discharge of a pear;

(d) means for feeding pears into the elevated end of said chute;

(e) a first and a second finger, each finger depending on a side of the chute with each pair of lingers in a parallel spaced relationship normally less than the diameter or the butt of the pear sliding through the chute whereby the fingers restrain momentarily passage of the pear down said chute and impart an over-turning movement to a pear sliding down the chtite butt-end first;

() means for separating the fingers to permit the pear to continue its passage down the chute; and

(g) means for reciprocating the chute support means to impart a shaking action to said chute.

3. A device for orienting pears comprising:

(a) a plurality of overlapping flexible. sheets;

(b) means supporting said iiexible sheets to form a unitary U-shaped chute with telescoping sections and with one end elevated, said unitary chute being mounted on said support means with opposite side walls depending, in the absence of a pear, in ya substantially parallel spaced relationship in which each pair of side walls is spaced apart a distance, measured normal to the said side walls, which is substantially less than the maximum diameter yof the butt end of the pear whereby when 'the pear is in the chute the side walls engage the maximum dimension of said pear at its butt end;

the' di'meterfofl a buttfof pear-sliding 'through Y unit'a'rfy U-shaped chutef telescoping sections anclwvith end elet/ated, aidufiitry-cliutefbeng ythe chiiteAth-e. sidewalls engage thenmaximum di-v (c) an opening'at either endpf the.,saidglriitai-y chuteW structuregfor receipt anddischargeof a pear;

(dlmeans .fOr/feeding pearsint the.e1,ev ated end.

the, Chuterwizth eachcooperating hair of ,Engen-.ber

ing@H Spacvgedwarallel. relationshipy normally. .lesshanf the Chute wherbyihe.ngers, rsta.in momentarily passagefta pear. down. Saidhute. and impart an,

overturning rmvitlfnwc thwar. Sliding. down a chlit but-end. rstlfia :single Pair fingers. .beine positionedhiirgmediatelyprior to the point of over- 

1. A DEVICE FOR ORIENTING A PEAR COMPRISING: (A) A FLEXIBLE ELONGATED SHEET; (B) MEANS SUPPORTING SAID SHEET WITH ONE END ELEVATED WITH RESPECT TO THE OTHER, SAID SHEET BEING MOUNTED ON SAID SUPPORT MEANS TO PROVIDE A USHAPED CHUTE HAVING ITS OPPOSITE SIDE WALLS DEPENDING, IN THE ABSENCE OF A PEAR, IN A SUBSTANTIALLY PARALLEL SPACED RELATIONSHIP IN WHICH THE SIDE WALLS ARE SPACED APART A DISTANCE, MEASURED AT NORMAL TO SAID SIDE WALLS, WHICH IS SUBSTANTIALLY LESS THAN THE MAXIMUM DIAMETER OF THE BUTT END OF THE PEAR WHEREBY WHEN A PEAR IS IN THE CHUTE THE SIDE WALLS ENGAGE THE MAXIMUM DIMENSION OF SAID PEAR AT ITS BUTT END; (C) AN OPENING AT EITHER END OF SAID CHUTE FOR RECEIPT AND DISCHARGE OF A PEAR; (D) MEANS FOR FEEDING PEARS INTO THE ELEVATED END OF SAID CHUTE; (E) A FIRST AND A SECOND FINGER, EACH FINGER DEPENDING ON A SIDE OF THE CHUTE WITH EACH PAIR OF FINGERS IN A PARALLEL SPACED RELATIONSHIP NORMALLY LESS THAN THE DIAMETER OF THE BUTT OF THE PEAR SLIDING THROUGH THE CHUTE WHEREBY THE FINGERS RESTRAIN MOMENTARILY PASSAGE TO THE PEAR DOWN SAID CHUTE AND IMPART AN OVER-TURNING MOVEMENT TO A PEAR SLIDING DOWN THE CHUTE BUTT-END FIRST; AND (F) MEANS FOR SEPARATING THE FINGERS TO PERMIT THE PEAR TO CONTINUE ITS PASSAGE DOWN THE CHUTE. 